Justin Petrie, aged 26, of Alexander Street, Parkes, was charged with 'Destroy or damage property'.

The defendant had been drinking at a Mudgee pub throughout the evening of Saturday, January 12, 2019.

He left the premises at about 1.15am the following morning and began to walk west along Market Street.

As Petrie passed one of the shopfronts he punched a window, shattering it.

This caused a significant laceration to his arm that began bleeding heavily and he walked back up to the pub to seek assistance.

Ambulance NSW paramedics were called and he was taken to Mudgee District Hospital where the wound was treated.

At about 7am that morning the police were made aware of the incident after they were called by people concerned when they saw the broken glass and the blood trailing along the footpath.

Officers tracked down Petrie, who admitted to the incident and claimed his actions were out of anger and being under the influence of alcohol.

The defendant wasn't before Mudgee Local Court on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, however submitted a written plea of guilty to the charge and asked that the matter be dealt with in his absence.

He said the anger was at himself, because earlier he had lost his brand new phone at the pub and punched the window once he realised he'd walked out the location without it.

Magistrate Jacqueline Trad commented that this was "an honest admission".

And added, "I note that he did quite a bit of damage to himself, as a result he was hospitalised for a laceration".

Petrie was fined $800 for the incident and ordered to pay $249.50 in compensation to the business owners to cover the costs of repairing the damage.

According to the 2014-2018 report published by the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, the Mid-Western Region local government area ranked 22^nd in the state for incidents of malicious damage to property, at the end of 2018. Which is up from 43^rd the previous year.